the fall of man, we believe that God did permit this great event to take place, with a view to the shining forth of his glory, in the work of redemption, planned and settled upon a foreknowledge and unalterable certainty of man's fall:-and that all affliction is the desert of sin, and sin exercised either in a direct violation of God's com→ mandments, or indirectly by a want of attendance to God's ordinances and injunctions. So we find that the child of God when afflicted by his heavenly Father, immediately reverts to himself to see if there be any immediate cause for such affliction; and says, " Search me, O God, and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." It is indisputably clear to all believers, that on account of their remaining corruptions, they are prone to lukewarmness in the ways of God, and every day require the visitation of the DAY-SPRING from on high! That he has an evil heart of unbelief, prone to depart from the living God; and his triumph amidst all his weakness is, that the everlasting arms are underneath the Church. Is it not, then, a part of the everlasting covenant, that if his children forsake his law, he will visit them? Does not the apostle prove clearly, that "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth?" And since the Father seeketh the spiritual and eternal welfare of every one of his children, is it not reasonable upon a knowledge of the character of God to suppose that he will afflict his people? Ah! we love to speak of Jehovah's unalterable faithfulness as to our security, but through the power of unbelief cannot always feel that our very trials arise from this same source. How comfortable is it under affliction, whoever and whatever may be the secondary cause, to look beyond to the great first Cause. If we keep our eye fixed upon our God, we shall lift up our heads triumphant above the waves of tribulation. The church of God is embarked upon the sea, nursed in the tempest, and cradled in the storm;' and however frail be our vessel, however shattered by the hurricane, Jehovah steers the ship, and through many difficulties she shall be brought into the harbour of eternal rest.

What would our estimate be of the value of that man as the parent of a family, whose children might go on unrebuked and unchastened for their follies? Common sense will supply the answer, and say, 'that man has no real regard for his offspring.' And shall we say of Jehovah, the Father of the church, that he has no regard for those whom he foreknew and eternally loved?-Far be it from us! no; he afflicts us because he delights in us; but does not delight in afflicting us. Yea, have we not under the force of truth been constrained to say, "in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me;" and sometimes very particularly so, for has he not made affliction the means of bringing his stray ones to the fold? And if he is faithful when he calls his people, it is logically correct to say, he is faithful in afflicting us. And could the proclamation be made in the ears of the church, there are nembers who would immediately rise up and exclaim, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy path." How often does the Lord cast his people into the furnace

From what I know of this glorious Physician, skill, I do most cheerfully recommend him to y Apothecary he is the author of medicine that w ease and comfort, and restore you to your deep and experimental acquaintance with digestive organs in tune; a sense of inte cure your lameness, so that being drawn shall find yourself able to run in his Song i. 4. And if you wash your ha it will remove the leprosy, ease which the world can neither give longer have to complain of beir adorned with splendid robes o graces of the Holy Spirit, chamber of your illustriou as your living Lord.

You have earnestly to convene a cabinet minister of the gos I hope I have bee your behalf-th you a love-lett that shall rev your long

-p man in penc

s, the mind that asks not

wn upon God's faithfulness-looks this is all my salvation and all my say vnen we are afflicted, if this had not event had not happened—where is there

But let us once arrive at a firm belief Je utrol, and directed by the hand of ...sve sail submit with resignation to our visaties of nature, and heartily sing the we did things well.”

according to the counsel of his own will," we are say to an afflicted believer, that his is passage? Here is no specification of ♥ quantum of affliction. Let faith then ous urposes for comfort, and let the believer

334

regulate the reception of this truth by Gambit eceive it upon the authority of the scripcuce asted of its sweetness, the cry of antinoSarue his squi; for he is built upon the truth, and hat he is taught to "deny all ungodliness

a ci de Lamb, you who are cast down through tap your eyes, take down your harps and codong Rigers over the quivering strings."

Come,

de faithfulness of God, till we shall meet ve world in the possession of the reserved inheriCoker canot exist, and where sin and sorrow shall

H. JENKINS.

ORIGINAL ESSAYS.

LXXXVI.

FUL AND WILLING HELPER OF THE
SAINTS.

THIRD ESSAY.

the love of God the Father, is the highest e exalted. The union of human nanal Word of God, is the most striking nty that God has made known. It is Father is the God of Christ; and as one and indivisible, as the human sequence of personal union to the ehovah, so in Christ the whole. sanctity, righteousness, freedom,

aviour prayed, "That they all may be one,

at in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in was not praying for that federal union which existed accordto divine will, and which is based on eternal love; for that secret affinity was not constituted either by the incarnation, obedience, prayers, sufferings, or sacrificial death of Christ: but he was intreating his Father that all his members might be gathered to him and stand with him in the presence of God, to partake with him of his glory, Neither is the union of which Christ spake, that necessary union of the essence of God common to all the three persons of the Godhead; for that is not a likeness or pattern after which God works, nor an end which he intends to accomplish. Every thing in God is God; therefore the persons in the indivisible Deity are God, and the internal mode of existence in the living Jehovah is above our apprehension, and it is not the subject of divine revelation. But the union of which the great Redeemer spake is that of the junction of natures in his glorious person; so that he continued to be a self-existent person in the Godhead, when he became a complex person by the creation of humanity in union to his eternal person. Thus God in the person of the Father has acquired a Son who is his own image, and in whom he for ever dwells. In Christ also God has chosen his family, and immutably fixed their state of spiritual sanctification. This secret union by love to the person of the Son of God, is the separation of the church for God after the likeness of setting apart that very individual of human kind in the person of Christ, God-man; for it is the consecrated centre where God has fixed his love on them, and in and through which he will shew mercy to them. Now though we cannot fully describe how the Father is in the Son, nor how the Son is in the Father, yet afterward Christ again said, "I in them, and Vol. VIII.-No. 100.]

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to keep them from sin. He disappoints them in their expectations, to keep them from pride: he raises up an enemy in the camp, to teach us there is no substantial peace here on earth; he allows the enemy to come in like a flood, that they may cleave to their God; he sends them to the cave of Adullam, that they may look on the right hand for help, and find none to save; and to the left, and none to deliver; that they may be brought to feel their total dependence upon God, and be taught to exclaim, "thou art my hope in the land of the living."

That there shall be a true, full, and firm conviction of the justice of God's dealings with us on earth, when we arrive at home, is placed beyond all dispute. But why not now possess the same elevated standing in experience? Would it not cure us of our peevishness and fretfulness, and procure for us under the blessing of the Holy Spirit resignation to God? And if it be asked, whence arise these feelings? The answer is at hand: a want of confidence in God. If our minds are tossed by every wave, and shaken by every tempest, and carried away like the parched leaves before the wind, how is it possible we can enjoy peace, perfect peace? There is a want of unlimited confidence in God; for it is written, "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee;" that is, the mind that asks not why and wherefore, but settles down upon God's faithfulness-looks to God's covenant, and says, "this is all my salvation and all my desire." Why should we say when we are afflicted, if this had not taken place, and the other event had not happened-where is there any comfort in this? None. But let us once arrive at a firm belief that all events are under the control, and directed by the hand of infinite Wisdom, and then we shall submit with resignation to our God, rise above the peevishness of nature, and heartily sing the song, "the Lord hath done all things well."

"He worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will," saith the apostle; and who dare say to an afflicted believer, that his trials are not included in this passage ? Here is no specification of any particular trial, or any quantum of affliction. Let faith then spring forward to God's purposes for comfort, and let the believer review himself for humiliation.

The man of God will not regulate the reception of this truth by popular opinion, but will receive it upon the authority of the scriptures; and if he has once tasted of its sweetness, the cry of antinomianism will not startle his soul; for he is built upon the truth, and he will let the world see, that he is taught to "deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts."

Come, followers of the Lamb, you who are cast down through much tribulation, lift up your eyes, take down your harps and "fling your trembling fingers over the quivering strings." Come, let us all join to sing the faithfulness of God, till we shall meet together in that other world in the possession of the reserved inheritance, where unbelief cannot exist, and where sin and sorrow shall for ever cease.

Lambeth,

H. JENKINS.

ORIGINAL ESSAYS.

LXXXVI.

GOD, THE POWERFUL AND WILLING HELPER OF THE SAINTS.

THIRD ESSAY.

To be one with Christ in the love of God the Father, is the highest eminency to which we can be exalted. The union of human nature to the person of the eternal Word of God, is the most striking manifestation of divine sovereignty that God has made known. It is in this sense that Jehovah the Father is the God of Christ; and as the essence of the Godhead is one and indivisible, as the human nature of the Son of God is by consequence of personal union to the eternal Word related to the one Jehovah, so in Christ the whole church has her being, perfection, sanctity, righteousness, freedom, and purity. When the Saviour prayed, "That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us," he was not praying for that federal union which existed according to divine will, and which is based on eternal love; for that secret affinity was not constituted either by the incarnation, obedience, prayers, sufferings, or sacrificial death of Christ: but he was intreating his Father that all his members might be gathered to him and stand with him in the presence of God, to partake with him of his glory. Neither is the union of which Christ spake, that necessary union of the essence of God common to all the three persons of the Godhead; for that is not a likeness or pattern after which God works, nor an end which he intends to accomplish. Every thing in God is God; therefore the persons in the indivisible Deity are God, and the internal mode of existence in the living Jehovah is above our apprehension, and it is not the subject of divine revelation. But the union of which the great Redeemer spake is that of the junction of natures in his glorious person; so that he continued to be a self-existent person in the Godhead, when he became a complex person by the creation of humanity in union to his eternal person. Thus God in the person of the Father has acquired a Son who is his own image, and in whom he for ever dwells. In Christ also God has chosen his family, and immutably fixed their state of spiritual sanctification. This secret union by love to the person of the Son of God, is the separation of the church for God after the likeness of setting apart that very individual of human kind in the person of Christ, God-man ; for it is the consecrated centre where God has fixed his love on them, and in and through which he will shew mercy to them. Now though we cannot fully describe how the Father is in the Son, nor how the Son is in the Father, yet afterward Christ again said, "I in them, and Vol. VIII.-No. 100.]

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